This invention relates to barbecue grills or smokers, and, more particularly, to a sliding damper for a barbecue grill or smoker.
Barbecue grills or smokers for barbecuing or smoking meat are well known. Such grills or smokers conventionally include an outer casing, a grate within the outer casing for supporting the meat, and some means for heating the meat, e.g., charcoal or gas. The outer casing is usually provided with one or more openings for supplying combustion air to the heating source, and these combustion air openings may be provided with dampers for adjusting the amount of air which can flow through the openings. Conventional dampers include discs which are rotatably mounted on the outside of the casing or plates which are slidably mounted on the outside of the casing. Since these dampers are mounted on the outside of the casing, they can be easily manipulated to vary the effective size of the combustion air openings. However, the external mounting of dampers causes certain problems. For example, the combustion air opening is usually located below the heating source in the bottom of the outer casing of the grill. As a result, ashes and other combustion products can accumulate above the opening and prevent or retard air flow even when the damper is fully open.
The invention provides a sliding or guillotine type internal damper which is self-cleaning and which can be conveniently operated from outside of the grill to provide excellent temperature control. A damper disc is slidably mounted on the upper surface of a slide plate mounted on the inside of the grill below the heating source. The slide plate is provided with a large opening, and the damper disc is sized to cover the opening. A rod attached to the damper disc extends to the outside of the casing so that the damper can be controlled externally.
The damper is slidable between a fully closed position in which it completely covers the opening in the plate to a fully open position in which it completely uncovers the opening. The opening in the plate has a relatively large diameter, and when the damper is fully open, ashes and other debris above the opening will be unsupported and will fall through the opening. The damper is in sliding contact with the upper surface of the plate, and the sliding or guillotine action serves to break up ashes which accumulate on the plate around the air opening. The damper thereby provides a self-cleaning action for the air opening each time the damper is opened and closed and preserves the full size of the air opening. The damper assembly is simple in structure and operation and cooperates with the grill casing in a unique way to maintain the structural integrity of the damper assembly.